[James Ross]

Trello card: https://trello.com/c...ber-in-registry

Quote

Storing the latest version number in the registry has been requested by content creators, so that their installers can validate the user's version of Open Rails is compatible with the content

This will be stored per-user, next to the existing content folders storage, which installers already modify to add content

The version will be stored in a machine-readable format (so that it may be updated automatically) and human-readable text for display purposes

The current version of code produces data in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\OpenRails\ORTS\Version" that looks like this:

https://james-ross.co.uk/temp/Screenshot%202021-08-30%20150044.png

The unlabelled QWORDs are 64-bit (8 byte) serialisations of the version number; sixteen bits (2 bytes) for each component. You can see the 1.4 and 1.3.1.1921 in the hex (0x) numbers above (0x781 = 1921). They should be compared numerically with the target version numbers in the same 64-bit format.

[R H Steele]

I'm assuming this only applies to those who use the OR update function. I looked at the location named above and found no version folder in the registry. I have always downloaded and manually installed various versions of OR, never using the updater...having first installed and setup the latest stable version to set the registry. Is there a downside to not using the updater?

[James Ross]

R H Steele, on 30 August 2021 - 09:37 AM, said:

I'm assuming this only applies to those who use the OR update function. I looked at the location named above and found no version folder in the registry. I have always downloaded and manually installed various versions of OR, never using the updater...having first installed and setup the latest stable version to set the registry. Is there a downside to not using the updater?

Sorry, I wasn't clear: this will apply to all copies of the Stable Version and Testing Version, no matter whether you use the installer, built-in updater, or zip files.

The code is currently only in Unstable Version, where it does not do anything (same goes for if you build it yourself).

[R H Steele]

James, http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/sign_thank_you.gifhttp://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/hi.gif

[Genma Saotome]

FWIW, for a while I was testing several versions at the same time. I don't do that now but perhaps others do.

[R H Steele]

Dave, Ive always had several versions at once, the last stable version, then --- a couple of testing versions ("U" versions), one or two Monogame Versions, and the Ultimate version. Never had any problems.

[RR1]

Weter, on 30 August 2021 - 06:00 PM, said:

So, if someone runs another, say, testing version, that registry entries will be overwritten with that version numbers?
And what about a case, when someone having a number of versions at the same time?

Looking at James's post, the registry version names are all unique so it looks to me (if I'm interpreting this correctly) like all OR versions can happily co-exist.

[James Ross]

Weter, on 30 August 2021 - 06:00 PM, said:

So, if someone runs another, say, testing version, that registry entries will be overwritten with that version numbers?
And what about a case, when someone having a number of versions at the same time?

RR1, on 31 August 2021 - 04:05 AM, said:

Looking at James's post, the registry version names are all unique so it looks to me (if I'm interpreting this correctly) like all OR versions can happily co-exist.

Yes, the different versions (Stable and Testing) are kept separate.

But also, "Storing the latest version number" - this code will only change what is stored if you run a newer version (by version number).

So, if you switch between multiple Stable or Testing versions, the registry entry will contain the newest of each.

[steved]

R H Steele, on 30 August 2021 - 10:03 PM, said:

Dave, Ive always had several versions at once, the last stable version, then --- a couple of testing versions ("U" versions), one or two Monogame Versions, and the Ultimate version. Never had any problems.

Can you tell me where to download the Ultimate version.
Never heard of that one.

[R H Steele]

steved, on 31 August 2021 - 08:54 AM, said:

Can you tell me where to download the Ultimate version.
Never heard of that one.

Ultimate version is a fork of the main branch of the OR code, it is maintained by "perpetualkid" at GitHub...I have not kept up with this fork.
Regards, Gerry
Ultimate Ver. -- Fork of OR code

[James Ross]

Weter, on 31 August 2021 - 07:46 AM, said:

So, this is for ensure, that content, being installed, is supported/compatible by/with at least one of existing ORTS installation on given system, for avoiding false error reports?

Yes. The content installer can check "Does the user have Open Rails 1.4 or higher?" to prevent known problems, e.g. the content relies on a feature new in 1.4.

[James Ross]

Weter, on 01 September 2021 - 06:14 PM, said:

Slight off top: if I run openrails.exe it is still checking for dx9, sends me to uncle bill for downloading them and prevents menu.exe from launching, so I have to run menu.exe directly. Is this procedure still necessary in the monogame era of ORTS? Furthermore, dx9 are not available for download from there already. And not needed for W10 as well...

You are correct, these checks are out of date. We should have updated them when we switched to MonoGame but we forgot.

Chris has updated them as part of the installer updates for 1.4, so this problem should already be fixed in Unstable, and will soon be fixed in Testing.

[James Ross]

James Ross, on 30 August 2021 - 06:10 AM, said:

https://james-ross.co.uk/temp/Screenshot%202021-08-30%20150044.png

To finalise this for 1.4 let me restate exactly what should happen in 3rd party applications:

• Open registry key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\OpenRails\ORTS\Version"
  
• Read "Stable" data as REG_QWORD - version number for comparison
  
• Read "Stable_Version" data as REG_SZ - version string for display
  
• Compare the version number against the target, e.g. 0x1000400000000 for 1.4, 0x1000500000000 for 1.5, etc.
  
• If it is not high enough, display an appropriate error for your application, using the version string in the message to indicate what the user currently has installed
  
• If the key or values do not exist, you can assume the user either does not have Open Rails or has a version prior to 1.4

Note that "Stable_Build" and "Stable_Updated" are not used for this check. The build data could be shown in the error message next to the version, but will make little sense to users. The updated data is really for internal use only.

Under no circumstances are people to try comparing versions with the version string. This is extremely hard to get right and there are no official rules on how to do it.

Always compare with the version number ("Stable" QWORD)!